Should an asbestos case be filed in state or federal court?
If possible, asbestos personal injury cases are usually filed in state court. Due to a quirk in federal court practice, all asbestos cases in federal court that have been filed since 1990 have been assigned to one judge in Philadelphia. That judge has never allowed a case to be tried in federal court for punitive damages, thus protecting the defendants from exposure to the full extent of damages permitted under state law. Because of this, since the defendants recognize the federal court will protect them, they generally try to do everything they can to get the case into federal court while the victims do everything they can to stay out of federal court.
